


i don't wanna be the last man standing

by orphan_account



Category: This Way Up (TV)
Genre: F/F, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-12
Updated: 2020-11-12
Packaged: 2021-03-10 01:34:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,295
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27516172
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Laser tag was Etienne’s idea. Shona is pretty sure this is an activity for children, but he’s having a real birthday with kids his age on his actual birthday, and she doesn’t know what they’ve planned for then.Today, it’s Richard, Aine, Shona, one of his friends whose name Shona already forgot, and Charlotte. Charlotte, who is surprisingly good with a gun, and smirked at her before they started, cocky in a way she rarely allows herself to get.
Relationships: Aine/Richard (This Way Up), Charlotte/Shona (This Way Up)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 13





	i don't wanna be the last man standing

**Author's Note:**

> this is literally just a short, cheesy fic of them playing laser tag. i don't know. i hope you enjoy! 
> 
> title from hollow by tori kelly because it's what i was listening to when i wrote this.

“This was a bad idea,” Shona says. She’s out of breath already and the place is way bigger than she expected.

Aine grins at her, her hair sticking to her forehead and falling out of its ponytail. “You’re only saying that because we’re losing.”

Laser tag was Etienne’s idea. Shona is pretty sure this is an activity for children, but he’s having a real birthday with kids his age on his actual birthday, and she doesn’t know what they’ve planned for then. 

Today, it’s Richard, Aine, Shona, one of his friends whose name Shona already forgot, and Charlotte. Charlotte, who is surprisingly good with a gun, and smirked at her before they started, cocky in a way she rarely allows herself to get. 

They’re on teams of two and somehow Aine had picked her over Richard, leaving the kids as a pair, and Richard and Charlotte running in the opposite direction.

“How long does this fucking game last?” Shona asks, peeking around the giant black block she’s hiding around. A kid runs past them, the green light on his vest and shoots her. She flips him off and Aine snorts, “I’m pretty sure you’re not supposed to swear at children.”

Shona would shoot her, if they didn’t have matching red lights glowing on their chests. The rules of the game are still vaguely unclear, even though she’s positive they’ve been playing for at least ten minutes. She knows it isn’t one shot and you’re out, that there’s a scoring system that adds up how many people you shoot and takes away points when you’ve been shot.

Another kid tries to sneak past but this time Aine catches her off guard, pinging her chest with what Shona knows is accidental aim, “Fuck yes!”

“No swearing,” Shona echoes, but knocks their shoulders together. 

\----

They don’t come in last, but it’s a close thing and the two teenagers who somehow did worse than them look pretty upset about it. Shona grins at them, feeling incredibly smug until she looks up the list and finds Richard and Charlotte in first.

“How often do you play laser tag?” Shona whines. 

Charlotte looks good in the vest. It suits the rest of her outfit somehow, like she came prepared to maximize the effect. She grins at her, “More than you, apparently.”

“We didn’t lose though,” Shona argues. 

“You will next time,” One of the teenagers mutters and Shona blinks at them, “Next time?” 

The kid smirks at her. She looks way too determined and Shona takes a step back towards Charlotte. “It’s three rounds, we just get a break in between.” She states it like it’s obvious, like Shona is an idiot for not knowing and she resists flipping her off too. She has a limit of flipping off one kid per day. 

“My niece loves laser tag,” Charlotte offers, quietly. She tugs her away, back towards the rows of fake guns and Shona goes easily. “I think we did it for her birthday like four years in a row.”

“I’m better at mini-golf,” Shona says. She leans back into her because she can and nobody is paying attention to them. There’s a clock above the screen with their scores and there’s still a couple of minutes left. 

The rest of the place has other games, air hockey and mini-basketball and skeeball. There’s a giant playground thing that unfortunately has a height limit and a rock climbing wall off to the side. 

“Too bad it’s raining,” Charlotte hums. It’s pouring so the mini-golf course and the race car course are closed but Etienne and his friend, Sam, Shona remembers now, hadn’t seemed too upset about it. 

Aine and Etienne are talking now, heads bent together and whispering. Richard is watching them fondly, zoned out from where Sam is telling him something. Etienne demonstrates something with his gun and Aine nods, even though she looks confused and when she tries to mimic him it isn’t nearly as smooth. 

“She seems happy,” Charlotte whispers. 

“Yeah,” Shona agrees. The buzzer goes and Shona jumps. Charlotte snorts at her, walking past her towards Richard, “Good luck babe.”

\---

“This is embarrassing,” Aine hisses. They’re hiding again, kind of, this time behind a lower block. The carpet is disgusting but they’re kneeling on it, trying to hide behind something made for kids. 

“We can’t lose,” Shona hisses back. Richard is in front of them, but too far away to get a hit on. 

“I’m going for it,” Aine mutters, standing up and sprinting towards him. Shona is pretty sure she’s going to tackle him, but she doesn’t, stopping just as he turns around and firing a shot off. 

Shona isn’t sure she’s ever felt more proud of her before this moment. Her buzzing vest distracts her and she whips her head around, only to see Charlotte grinning at her. She briefly remembers that shots on the back count for more and she glares.

“Sorry,” Charlotte offers, clearly not sorry at all and runs away before Shona can do anything. 

\---

They come in last. 

Richard and Charlotte finish first again, though it’s closer this time. Aine huffs, sitting down next to her on the floor. “We have to make sure they don’t win.” 

“How do you suggest we do that?” Shona asks. Richard is _smiling_ , teasing Etienne and Sam about their third-place finish. It looks like it’s easier now, a stark difference than the first time Shona met them. 

“We play dirty,” Aine grins. “I mean like - good dirty, you know? Not tripping, but if the first plan doesn’t work, I’m totally good with tripping.” 

Shona snorts, bumping their shoulders together. “It can’t be worse than what we’re already doing.” 

\---

Richard and Charlotte break off as soon as they all run into the competition area. Aine and Shona follow each of them, but Shona had no clue Charlotte is fucking fast. 

The lights are too bright and colourful, and it takes too long for her eyes to adjust each time they start. She finds Charlotte again because a kid whines, vest buzzing as the shot goes through.

Charlotte is grinning, hair wild around her face and she doesn’t see Shona coming. Shona takes advantage and shoots her, relief flooding her when Charlotte’s blue vest flickers. Charlotte can’t shoot her until her vest recalibrates so Shona walks over, slowly and way too smug. 

“You got lucky,” Charlotte pouts. 

“I hope so,” Shona grins. “The vest looks good on you.” 

Charlotte’s eyes narrow and Shona knows she’s competitive, knows that she’s too smart for this and already knows the plan, but she also knows that she’s hot and that Charlotte thinks she’s hot, and it’s easy to push her back into one of the corners. 

“This is cheating,” Charlotte murmurs. 

Shona tucks her gun back into her vest and loops her fingers in Charlotte’s belt loops. “You’re not really complaining.” 

“This isn’t going to help you win.” 

“I know,” Shona grins, leaning into her. 

\---

Richard looks happier than he did when he won. Shona raises her eyebrow and Aine smirks at her, hand linked with his. 

Etienne and Sam won, by a fuck ton and the bored-looking teenagers hands them a bunch of tickets. They briefly look to Richard for permission, before ditching their vests and running out towards the games. 

“Beat you this time,” Shona points out. It barely counts, Richard and Charlotte have two points and Aine and Shona have four. Overall, they got their asses kicked but Shona isn’t going to bring it up. 

“By cheating,” Charlotte argues.

Shona rolls her eyes, taking her own vest and waiting for Charlotte to pass her’s over. “I’ll beat you at air hockey too, come on.” 

“Good thing you can’t cheat at that,” Charlotte mutters, but she follows her anyway.


End file.
